Related Articles

Former Glamorgan and England fast bowler Simon Jones has not been sold at the Indian Premier League auction in Bangalore.

The 35-year-old was unsold at the first attempt on the opening day of the IPL auction and not picked up on the second and final day of the auction conducted by Welshman Richard Madley.

Kevin Pietersen will be the only England-qualified cricketer after Jones and 10 other hopefuls from these shores failed to attract a bid at auction.

Pietersen, controversially axed as an England player last week and therefore free to play a full IPL campaign for the first time, was retained for £880,000 by Delhi Daredevils on day one of the set-piece spending spree.

But none of the eight franchises in the big-money Twenty20 league showed any interest in the best of the rest England has to offer.

Even short-format specialists Luke Wright and Alex Hales were unsold two days running.

The latter, however – like his Nottinghamshire colleague Samit Patel – might have paid the price for the deal struck with his county to ensure his IPL availability only if his maximum reserve was matched.

England players’ evident unpopularity at the IPL contrasts with that of those from other countries, with 50 of the 154 sold over the last two days hailing from outside India.

Among them were Australian Ashes-winners Mitchell Johnson and David Warner, and their compatriots Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins.

While almost a team’s worth of England cricketers nationwide will be in attendance for their counties after all for the start of the domestic season, Essex’s Holland all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate will be in India.

The diminutive big-hitter will once again be in the Kolkata Knight Riders squad, and will earn just over £110,000 for the privilege.

Yuvraj Singh, recalled in his country’s ICC World Twenty20 squad just 24 hours earlier, had the honour of being the top lot at £1.4million in an auction which did not break any records. Just behind him was wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, worth £1.2 million to join Pietersen at Delhi.

South Africa-born batsman Pietersen, meanwhile, may be set for a stint of IPL back in his native country if organisers decide next week to transfer part of the tournament there to avoid a clash with elections on home soil.

News on this Day

Lost Cats – Lost and found in S Wales

If your cat is missing check our LOST CATS page
This area draws the Facebook pages of lost Cats in Cardiff and S Wales together for easy viewing .
It also includes GOOD NEWS stories of found cats like Ollie below !